The present invention relates to sprinkler heads and especially to a sprinkler head having a removable weighted collar.
Mechanically moved irrigation systems are commonly used throughout the United States for irrigating agricultural lands. Generally, the mechanically moved irrigation systems include a plurality of wheeled towers supporting a linear water conduit in a manner that the wheeled towers and water conduit can be moved through an agricultural field for changing the position of irrigation sprinklers coupled to the water conduit. One end of the water conduit is coupled to a water main or well and sprinkler heads are mounted in spaced alignment along the water conduit between the wheeled towers. The irrigation system may be moved in an agricultural field by a motor coupled through a gear box to the wheels of the towers.
One type of mechanically moved irrigation system in common use is a center pivot irrigation system used in the irrigation of large fields. These typically are comprised of a linear water conduit which is pivotally connected at one end to a source of water under pressure. The water conduit is carried in an elevated position by a plurality of spaced wheeled towers which are powered by hydraulic, pneumatic or electric motors to rotatably sweep the central conduit over a central pattern in a field. The central conduit includes a plurality of water sprinkling heads spaced over its length for distributing a spray of water on the circular field area as the center pivot irrigation conduit passes thereby. The center pivot and other wheeled line irrigation systems have been successful for uniform distribution of water over a field crop.
The current practice in these irrigation systems is to connect drop hoses to the water main with conventional couplings and then have the hoses drop near the field below and have sprinklers attached to the end thereof for distributing the water adjacent the crops.
Prior U.S. patents using weighted collars can be seen in Applicant's prior U.S. patent to Santiesteban et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,382,525, which is a sprinkler head with a shielded weighted collar used to reduce vibrations and to deflect water from a sprinkler head while shielding the sprinkler head from physical damage. The Landry U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,135 is for a fluid-filled weight, particularly suited for use in irrigation systems. The Nelson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,406, is for a hose weight with ballast for use in an irrigation drop tube system and includes an elongated hollow core sleeve. The prior U.S. Patent to M. D. Walklet, U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,117, is a bar bell disk weight construction having hollow weights for filling with a fluid material as does the J. W. Newman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,171,652, for an exercising weight filled with solidifying material.
One of the problems that occurs with sprinkler heads is sprinkler movement from the wind which can result in wear and premature failure of a sprinkler head. The present invention holds the sprinkler head down and prevents it from blowing around and at the same time forms a collar which continuously maintains a snug fit on the sprinkler head to prevent movement between the weight and the sprinkler head to prevent wear and damage from the movement of the weight on the sprinkler head.